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‘Brigadoon’
enchanting romanceBrigadoon: 7:30 p.m., tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 and 2; Richardson Theatre, Fort Shafter. Tickets $12 and $15 adults, $6 and $8 keiki under 12. Call 438-4480
By John Berger Army Community Theatre so often attempts the impossible in staging big-budget musicals on a shoestring budget that success is always gratifying. The group's latest production, "Brigadoon," is cause for celebration.
Special to the Star-BulletinDirector Eden-Lee Murray starts with a pair of fresh faces as the romantic leads. Tara Melia Hunt and Josh Harris are attractive and well-matched as Scots villager Fiona Mac Laren and her American suitor Tommy Albright. Hunt easily eclipses her recent performance in Kennedy Theatre's "Nobody Will Marry A Princess With A Tree Growing of Her Head."
Harris makes an impressive debut playing an amiable bachelor who is living his life on auto-pilot and drifting into a convenient marriage, until he discovers the village of Brigadoon.
Hunt and Harris sing clearly and forcefully over musical director Mary Chesnut's orchestra. Their key duet, "The Heather on the Hill," is the romantic highlight Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe intended.
Murray also achieves the cultural ambience that is another essential component in "Brigadoon." Choreographer Annette L. Johansson, costume designer Kathy Kohl, fight choreographer Tony Pisculli, the Royal Scottish Country Set Dancers and the Celtic Pipes and Drums of Hawaii share credit for maintaining an authentic Scots aura throughout.
Murray draws strong performances from key secondary players. David C. Farmer (Jeff Douglas) gives a vibrant performance as Albright's cynical hard-drinking friend, and shows a deft touch as a comic straight man.
Jason Carpenter combines a fine voice and nice shadings of attitude as soon-to-be-married Charlie Dalrymple; Michael Hanunu makes a noteworthy debut as both actor and dancer playing unlucky-in-love villager Harry Beaton; and Glenn Cannon (Mr. Lundie) is perfect as the village patriarch who explains the secret of the village to the two Americans.
The secret is a variation on Shangri-La in "Lost Horizon." Brigadoon can be reached from the outside world once every 100 years. A century is only 24 hours in the lives of the villagers, who have aged only two days since "the miracle" occurred 200 years ago. An outsider can become a villager by remaining when a day ends in Brigadoon but the village will be destroyed if a villager leaves.
That's bad news for Tommy, who has less than a day to decide if his feelings for Fiona are strong enough for him to reject his fiancee and all the conveniences of the 20th century for an 18th-century Scots village. It's bad news twice over for Harry, who must watch Jean, the woman he loves, marry another, then spend his life trapped in Brigadoon, unable to seek his fortune in Edinburgh.
Katherine Jones' nimble dancing as Jean adds a light visual element as Carpenter sings another of the big romantic numbers, "Come to Me, Bend to Me." Credit Jones, Carpenter and Murray with developing the romance in such a way that while we feel Harry's pain, we accept Jean's marriage.
Jennifer Parales (Meg Brockie) adds a broad comic presence and was a crowd favorite on Saturday despite having microphone problems.
Tom Giza's sets are his most memorable creations since his Po'okela Award-winning designs for ACT's "Big River." Chet Toni (lighting) does noteworthy work as well.
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